Tool chest -should I buy this one?

[Zorro13]

Hello,

I'm currently living in the Detroit metro area and am looking for a tools chest that has enough room for my expanding hand tool collection. Since I'll go back to Germany soon I find this being a great 'last' investment, since prices for tools and chest are way cheaper in the US than in my home country. I have quite some car projects and look for a reasonably priced chest in the 27" - 40"; 400-700$ range. So far I focused on CL to find a decent piece and stumbled over this Clarke chest. Clarke seem to have varying quality and thus I would need your advise whether you think this is a reasonable deal for the money.

Other than that I consider the Costco stainless CSPS for ~ 500$ or a HF stainless steel unit in the 500-700$ range (although I haven't tried it so far, but GJ reviews sound decent). Some recommend International but all I can find in this price-range is from their new Chinese made 'Value Line' and I have no idea about their quality nor did I find any comments about it.

You see I'm still pretty struggling. All I know, is that Craftsman below the 'Griplatch Quality class' does not meet my expectations quality wise.

The Toptul 7-drawer roller + settop chest looks nice to me, but for a new brand it's to expensive to give it a try. Or does someone have one and could give some feedback?

I appreciate any from from you experts!

Thank's in advance and best regards
Jan

 

[kythri]

Looks like a nice big chest, but I couldn't tell you how it stacks up to the rest of the stuff out there, quality-wise.

I can tell you something that I've seemed to notice, both with my personal preference, and from observation of stuff here - when the chests are 40" wide or bigger, if they don't have at least one full-width drawer, they seem to be a major turn-off.

I can't tell you how annoyed I've become at not having that one big long drawer - I'd like to be able to have something to put all of my sockets in, instead of having them spread out between multiple shallow 24" drawers.

 

[Zorro13]

Hmm the thing with the 40" drawer is a good hint.

Could also indicate that there is a stability issue, so the choose the small-drawer-add-on option in favor for a full size drawer.

 

[billymade]

I would try to find a used professional box; Snap-On, mac, matco, or even a craftsman you are happy with.. etc. A quality used box will last you a lifetime and have a high resale value (in particular with a Snapon); plus how cool would it be to take it back with you to Deutschland? It would be a functional and unique item to keep, use and show off! Keep your eyes peeled on craigslist! Good luck!
I'm seeing some Snap-On, matco, and craftsman boxes on there now!
http://detroit.craigslist.org/tls/

 

[1320stang]

I agree with billymade, you seem to be in an area hardest hit by the economy, I'd think you should be able to find a smoking deal on a Snap-On, Mac or Matco box.

 

[RbrtAWhyt]

I have the ClarkeHD top and bottom. Pretty well built for the money. I bought mine brand new. That CL box seems like a decent deal, but I would offer less first, as I do with anyting bought off CL...

Here is my ClarkeHD box:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=451097&postcount=1598

 

[PatDoody]

I have recently bought the HF box and love it. super sturdy, and smooth drawer operation even loaded with tools, at 340.00 on sale its unbeatable. and quality wise blows out any craftsmen box I ever touched.

 

[onecheck]

I have recently bought the HF box and love it. super sturdy, and smooth drawer operation even loaded with tools, at 340.00 on sale its unbeatable. and quality wise blows out any craftsmen box I ever touched.

I don't know why people think crapsman is a good brand

 

[Joelfke]

I don't know why people think crapsman is a good brand

its a good brand for those who use tools on a regular basis but not professionally. Although I agree that some of their stuff is absolute ****....

ive been using craftsman sockets and wrenches for a couple years now in a dealership until i can afford better name tools.

as far as a tool chest, like said above, craigslist will probrably yield a great priced box if you can search around and maybe wait a little while...

goto garage sales and estate sales. usually great places to find hidden gems (IE: relative passes away and has a snapon box, family doesnt know the name well enough to price it right, and so you end up with an amazing box for minimal cash)

 

[Bustawrench]

I have recently bought the HF box and love it. super sturdy, and smooth drawer operation even loaded with tools, at 340.00 on sale its unbeatable. and quality wise blows out any craftsmen box I ever touched.

Did you get that from the Vineland store? I might just swing by there and check one out.

Do you know who made it for HF?

 

[speed bump]

I don't know why people think crapsman is a good brand

I own several Craftsman boxes and the HF unit shown above and honestly that HF box isn't any better than my BB Cman box other than they put all the sliders they could on every drawer. For as much as people bash them I had my top box loaded to the point where I couldn't even shove more tools in it and held up just fine and even manged to log about 1000 miles riding around in vehicles last summer without a problem. I can't count on a single finger the number of craftsman tools that have failed me but then again maybe I shouldn't of used a 13mm deep well chrome socket on an impact.

I recently got to play with the clarke and it feels like it came out of the same factory as the HF one so buy what you can get cheapest if thats what the moola situation looks like.

 

[Merkava_4]

I have to admit, that's a damn good looking box. Makes the Craftsman boxes look home-owner'ish.

 

[Chris Adams]

Something I mentioned the other day, but is still true, the boxes at my local HF seem to be BETTER than they were last year. Don't know if the company who makes them was changed or just improved their product a little, but when I looked at them last year they were better than the Costco CSPS, but not as good as a similar sized Torin. Now, I'm gonna say as good as the Torin, maybe better. Way better than the CSPS.
You could do a lot worse, for more money.

 

[U5512]

I have recently bought the HF box and love it. super sturdy, and smooth drawer operation even loaded with tools, at 340.00 on sale its unbeatable. and quality wise blows out any craftsmen box I ever touched.

Excellent quality box. I am adding it to my wish list for a YELLOW one! The HF store that I frequent has one set up outside the door, and I always played with the drawers everytime I stopped by.

 

[Zorro13]

Hi,

last night I found a used snapon on CL and since I missed already a couple others I immediately drove by and picked it up. It has some dents and scratches but still looks decent and damn this thing is heavy...

Anyway I must admit that I wasn't to impressed by the drawer quality and if I wouldn't have known the brand and its reputation I wouldn't have bought it. At least I got it for a good price. and together with a 'still to find' top chest it may be well within my $ 700 cap.

Since I want to have a combo I'm now looking for a matching top chest but I haven't seen this 10-drawer roller style before. Does anyone now the series it belongs to and whether there was even a top chest available for it? The roller size is 33" wide x 20" deep and has this strange roller shutter (which really makes it look 'pro-style')

Right now I'm not sure whether I'll keep it or to sell it again and buying the great HF toolbox instead (some may call me crazy, I know). I saw this US General unit last weekend at HF and was pretty impressed. They are on sale right now and together with the 20% coupon I could get a 41" combo for about $ 600 which is a steal. I already planned to pick one up this week until I found now the snapon. What would you do?

 

[Merkava_4]

What would you do?

You've got yourself a KRA400. I've always liked those boxes. I used to use one that belonged to the military once upon a day. I remember how I used to love hearing the sound of the roll up door when it would slam shut.

 

[Scooterfish]

Will H F let you use the 20% off coupon when the the box is on sale for $340?

 

[48548]

That looks like my vintage 78 kra-300f here is a picture with my new top box I got monday.

 

[48548]

something like this a top box, snap on still sells them as a classic box for 605$.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item...group_ID=18013&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

 

[FuriousGeorge]

Will H F let you use the 20% off coupon when the the box is on sale for $340?

Not in my experience. The $340 is with a coupon and you can only use one coupon. $399 sale price with 20% off coupon is your best bet.

 

[Zorro13]

Not in my experience. The $340 is with a coupon and you can only use one coupon. $399 sale price with 20% off coupon is your best bet.

I disagree. Just stopped by tonight with 3 printed 20% coupons to get the fuel pressure gauge, an Central Pneumatic Earthquake 1/2" impact and some small stuff. The cashier accepted all three coupons by simply creating three receipts. I asked whether these coupons would also work for the tool chest and he confirmed. Man, I need to get rid of this Snap-on thing as soon as possible...

 

[Zorro13]

I disagree. Just stopped by tonight with 3 printed 20% coupons to get the fuel pressure gauge, an Central Pneumatic Earthquake 1/2" impact and some small stuff. The cashier accepted all three coupons by simply creating three receipts. I asked whether these coupons would also work for the tool chest and he confirmed. Man, I need to get rid of this Snap-on thing as soon as possible...

Sorry for the confusion! Furious George is of course right . You can only use one 20% coupon per item. The only thing you can do (and hope they'll accept) is that you come with a bunch of coupons and they let you use every single coupon on a different item i.e. roller -20% and top chest - 20%; that's how it worked for me yesterday.

BTW: my KRA400 is now on sale!

 

[Scooterfish]

When I asked I didn`t know the $340 was after coupon. Looked at flyer reg $499 sale $399.Locally they will let you use multiple coupons (1 per item) and ring it up on seperate tickets. However they say you can`t use a 20% off on a "sale" item, which was my question.Wouldn`t 20% off 399 be 319?

 

[speed bump]

When I asked I didn`t know the $340 was after coupon. Looked at flyer reg $499 sale $399.Locally they will let you use multiple coupons (1 per item) and ring it up on seperate tickets. However they say you can`t use a 20% off on a "sale" item, which was my question.Wouldn`t 20% off 399 be 319?

I used a 20% off coupon on my toolbox when it was $400 and got it for $320. Maybe they had to pay sales tax?

I will say the HF box is a decent box but mine is going to end up with a griplatch/traxx top box on it because the top box is what I use all the time and I just don't think the HF box is up to the same quality as those boxes (maybe par with the BB boxes except for the extra slides on all the big drawers).

 

[sk farmer]

That looks like my vintage 78 kra-300f here is a picture with my new top box I got monday.

zorro, i have this type of top box on an hf roller cabinet. it is a montezuma brand. i have thecrossover and and 48548 has the la 400. the finish is very similar on both top and bottom peices although colors are slightly differant. it makes a nice set. but would also look good on the snap-on. i would also avoid the hf top because of the drawer set up.

 

[Zorro13]

That looks like my vintage 78 kra-300f here is a picture with my new top box I got monday.

I think its the KRA400 that Merkava_4 mentioned. The parts catalog shows 10 drawers and the roller slide..

The KRA300F has 'only' 8 drawers.

 

[48548]

I think mine has 10, here is a picture, I have a kra-300F, but it doesn't have the nice trim on the drawers like yours. Also it was made in 77-78 so I don't think they had that back then.

 

[FuriousGeorge]

I think the confusion on the HF box is that they sometimes run a coupon to get it for $340. You can't combine that with the 20% coupon. The "regular" sale price is $399 with no coupon needed so you can use the 20% off with it and get it for $320.

 

[Rickster]

I saw that craigs list ad and had to convince myself not to high tail it oer there and pick up that SnapOn box. I already have that same one with friction slides.

 

[nissan_crawler]

I don't know why people think crapsman is a good brand

Because they work?

 

[Diesel_Crawler]

Because they work?

I am not a ********* craftsman user, though i do use some of there tool. so i have to agree 100%